Welcome! This blog follows the building, cultivating, and harvesting of the Lakewood Elementary schoolyard garden in St. Petersburg, Florida. Since January 2009, the Edible Peace Patch Project has been developing innovative community-oriented food system and nutrition educational programs in south St. Petersburg, Florida. Lakewood Elementary is the 1st school to participate in our Garden Education Program!

Edible Peace Patch Blogs

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

"Truth is the strong compost which beauty may sometimes germinate." -Christopher Morley

After a chilly 75 degree night in St. Petersburg, you would think that the next morning would be of the like or colder. But, of course, this assumption is wrong. This steamy morning the garden looked glorious! The tomato plants (as seen above) are flourishing! There is even a plump, green tomato pushing toward maturity! These are the tallest plants in the garden so far and they look amazing in the middle of the beds. They are going on a field trip soon to the front of the garden where they will show off their beauty first thing as you head south into the garden.

The beastly watermelon is growing strong and is about the size of a little league football! As the beast fattens, the stem is shrinking, making it fragile for young, active hands. A democratic vote declared that the beast is one of the children's favorite foods. When it's time to see it, they become very excited, losing all sense of hierarchy in the classroom as they sprint towards the palisaded watermelon. A natural instinct to protect the beast settles in as we become more frank about the garden's rules. The rind is luminous, forseeing a juicy, and of course beastly, watermelon to enjoy!

As the children have learned, everything has a cycle. The water cycle was a new subject for many of the children, but, with the help of "Re-Cycle," the book read, they all became aware of where rain comes from. They even understood that clouds are water vapor! Children and smarter than you think, which is where the compost comes in. Most of them knew that if you put eggs and banana peels together they will help cultivate the land. Those who did not understand became aware of what compost is and why it is important with the help of "Re-cycle." It shared with the children what goes into a compost, what does not go into a compost, and why the compost is important. With their close attention, mainly to the pictures, their minds began to ponder other things that they use daily that could go into a compost. Some even said they were going to take whatever they could find in the kitchen to make their own! That, by far, brings the biggest smile amongst us.

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About The Edible Peace Patch

is one of two schoolyard gardens run by The Edible Peace Patch Project in St. Petersburg, Florida. This project was developed to set a standard for experiential education as well as provide valuable mentoring opportunities for undergraduate students in St. Petersburg, and to provide academic support and collaborative experiential learning to students in south Pinellas County.